Letters to the Editor: Saturday, April 5, 2014

This letter is in response to Mike Maher’s letter “God-given marriage isn’t discriminatory” of March 26, 2014.

I always find it humorous when people decide marriage is something created by their Lord, Jesus Christ. If you take the time to crack open a history book you’ll find marriage can be recorded all the way back to Ancient Mesopotamia.

Is gay marriage wrong? One short answer, no.

Marriage is not something only acknowledged by Christians. People who partake in Judaism, Hinduism, Wicca and God forbid, Atheists, have also taken part in marriage. Don’t tell me a gay marriage ban isn’t discriminatory until you take away the marriage rights of other religions or lack thereof. After all, those people are not being married under YOUR Christian God, so does this make their marriage irrelevant?

You could cite the 2004 election results, resulting in the ban of gay marriage. However, they are no longer relevant, as that was 10 years ago. A February 2014 Michigan State University poll found that 54 percent of Michigan residents support allowing same-sex couples to marry, while 36 percent are opposed. 10 percent are unsure.

I’m not going to get into the gay, ex-gay debate but I’ll simply say: People are allowed to change their mind about what they like; sometimes I don’t like ice cream. If my whole family told me I was an awful person for liking ice cream and would go to hell for eating it, because that’s what it says in their Bible, you can bet I’d stop eating ice cream if I didn’t know any better!

And finally, I would like to quote myself, Devyn Bice (“Some also used the Bible to defend racial segregation” 3/6/13):

“If we as Christians expect to have our religious rights protected it is our duty to fight for the rights of other minorities, regardless the reason. When we fail to do that we’re really failing ourselves and our community."Please do your research for the upcoming November elections. At the end of the day, politicians who do not fight for equal rights for all are flat out criminals.